This Sunderland curry house is the top choice among Echo readers - for the third year in a row

The restaurant, in Ashbrooke’s Douro Terrace, has been chosen by Sunderland Echo readers as their Curry House of the Year for the third consecutive year.

It beat off stiff competition to claim the title, with Seaham’s Ashoka in second place and The Spice Lounge, in Durham, placed third.

Yuvraaj owner Monie Hussain is over the moon to have picked up the honour for a third time and thanked his loyal customers for their support and his and hard-working team for their efforts.

“It is unreal,” he said.

“You had so many good restaurants going up against us - I think there were around 30 restaurants involved altogether, so to have come top for three years in a row is just amazing for us.

“It is all down to the hard work of the staff – I could not do anything on my own. It is the lads who have put the work in.”

Monie is extremely grateful to all those who took the time and trouble to show their support.

“If you give people something on a plate, it’s easy, but this involved people taking the time to go out off their own bat to get the paper and vote for us,” he said.

“It is an amazing feeling because you know your customers are supporting you and to do it three years running is fantastic.

“My clients are 90 per cent regulars – they are the people who have been supporting me from day one.”

Monie took over the former Cafe Spice four years ago and invested thousands to refurbish the building throughout before reopening as Yuvraaj.

“We started off in 2015 and the first year was a bit of a bumpy ride,” he said.

“But it has been the support from our customers that has kept us open and now the business is doing great.

“It is all down to our customers who have supported us through everything we have been through.

“They are just amazing.”